Sides of the Same Coin
by robert3A-SN
Summary: One is unpopular, pushed around and hated by everyone. The other is popular, successful, but also hated although she doesn't know it. So what happens when these two misunderstood, disliked people finally start to interact? A ButtersWendy friendship fic.
1. Prologue

To introduce myself, I am an author that used to be very prolific around these parts. I started out in 2003 and left in summer 2004 when they wouldn't allow story fics anymore. But I continued to post on and posted over 100 SP fics over 3 1/2 yearsyou can see them at http://www.w338puq3y.homepage.t-online.de/viewuser.php?uid967 I was regarded as one of the best SP authors in my circle of friends, but my fics started to decline, I had feuds with those friends, and I lost interest, so I stopped writing the fics in mid August. But now, I'm coming out of semi retirement to start anew, though my fics will now be one shot ones instead of continuing my defunct series.

This is my first new one, and will sound familar to those who know me, and know I hate seeing my favorite character Butters be abused and screwed over all the time on the show, and I don't like how they ruined the Stan/Wendy relationship and made it easy for the majority of SP fans and writers to hate Wendy either. Since I regard Wendy and Butters as the most mistreated characters on the showButters for the crap they put him through and Wendy for all but ruining her character after the SP movie and after Mary Kay Bergman died, for different reasons, they are the stars in this one.

Assume for a moment that you are a visitor of South Park High School. After you assume you know what the hell that place is and who the hell works there, and after you've done some research to confirm this, you'll know what the hell I'm talking about here. Which would be how utterly normal some things are.

Normal? South Park? Assume I'm not on drugs for a moment and actually listen to me defend that. If any actual town isn't normal, it's that one, you didn't need to do any research for that. But let's skip the monsters and the celebrity visits and the occasional saving the world, and even the odd attempts to commit genocide against the Jews that Eric Cartman fails at at least once a year. Let's just examine the school itself. And here, the social order is entirely normal looking.

Jocks, geniuses, hot girls, hot boys, middle of the road people, nerds and so called "Pussies", people at the bottom of the social food chain- here is where there is nothing out of the ordinary to be found. For a town that bends the status quo and pushes the envelope constantly, absolutly no evidence of those guts is found here. No attempts are made to change the order of things in this place. Nothing radical or mind blowing or Establishment challenging here. Everyone is in the same assigned social standings that have been in every town the country and world over, and no one questions it. This is a town that has weird things and mind bending things no one has ever seen before, and things that really make people think about the world at least 14 times a year. But again, when it comes to the subject of how peers are viewed and the fairness of the status quo in school world, they are as much unthinking drones as the idiots that are so often mocked everywhere else in town.

So in that case, two cases in this school are as utterly normal as you can get.

One, the unofficial, but practically official enough, whipping boy of the whole school. You know the type- friendless, used for everything imaginable, taking the fall for everything when stuff goes down bad, thought of as nothing more than a gay weakling who's probably a flamer for real because he won't yell or curse or act like he has even one ball. This is a common figure in every school, and since no one has the balls themselves to address and try to fix this, this kind of person is utterly normal and commonplace around here. Every non sexual abuse has come down on him at one point or another over the course of about 8 years, which is when they first used him when it got too old to torture a British kid. And since this kind of person is needed for school, and no one bothers to think this person should be helped in actual helpful ways instead of shunned and ignored, there's almost no need for him to speak out and face whatever feelings he has over this. Perfectly common, almost unremarkable to the unaware eye.

This was the most put upon, misunderstood, negatively thought of person at that school.

And astonishingly, someone from the other side of the popularity chain almost had him beat...in at least the last two catagories.

Now this was someone far more acceptable to the discriminating eye, in more ways than one. It was a girl, so you could hardly get way with abusing a girl without being sued by a million politicially correct lawyers these days. It wasn't an ugly girl, so it was more acceptable to put her in with the in crowd. It was a girl who a few drooled over and who wasn't attached, so more points for her. It was someone who was a certified genius ever since she first got tested, but since she was a hot girl, she didn't get worked over and mocked and shunned for it- at least not that much. Being a rather outspoken figure on world issues did make her different from the majority of this place, but it worked to impress the right people in the administration. This was the shining star who would be a rare case of doing something useful outside of this town. Everything looked perfect in this case.

However, having pushed aside a fair share of boys when she was younger, having made it easy for others to see her as arrogant, having made it easy to show a burning temper beneath all the glamour, having actually murdered someone in secret 8 years ago, having her rants against politics seem like grandstanding and spotlight hogging, and having almost no one she knew in school actually respect her and think well of her when they were behind her back- now you see a couple things unperfect. But I guess this is common too- someone who thinks everything is great and that she's been doing great, but who almost everyone really doesn't like at all deep down without her knowing about it.

But even if she was aware that some didn't like her, it's because they didn't understand her and were against her views and didn't know what they were talking about, right? She had all the right views on life and all the right answers to everything- she had to be as brilliant and well off as everyone said, right? Right.

And so, these are our two seemingly unremarkable cases. The picked on "pussy" hated by almost all, and the have it all, know it all girl also hated by almost all- one knowing about it all too well, and one not knowing it at all. One treated as worthless so often that it must have been true, and one treated as perfect even when it wasn't true.

These characters, for being so incredibly different, are truely the least thought of, hated, and most disrespected by the powers that be in this group.

So what happens when they finally have a reason to actually interact with each other?


	2. Act 1

It had finally happened. Some suspected that he'd snap one day, maybe even with a gun- but the way he snapped was unpredicted by everyone.

Everything was normal enough before now. He had been yelled at by his parents yesterday for being late to go home, which he was only because writing Eric Cartman's report took longer than expected. Those overbearing parents never cared for excuses, though, and he would have to go home to start being grounded right after school today. So then this morning he was shoved into his locker and locked inside twice, a little bit less than usual however. And he got repremanded by his teachers when he got out of the locker too late to make it to class, but nothing that was new. It had gone on for so long and with no objections, so why the hell would he take it out on anyone now, even if he had a semblance of balls?

To this day, he still couldn't give a straight, clear cut answer as to how he got set off.

The weirdest thing is that how it started had nothing to do with him at all.

Before that took place, she was at her locker fending off another idiotic male, as she called them. This time, it was Craig asking her for a date, but pretty much moreso asking her for...bed stuff. She figured it was just another case of a stupid unthinking male wanting her for her body, as the uneducated males often do. When she said that to him, of course, he only started to call her a bitch because he was angry that his penis wouldn't be getting any- not because he and every other one of his friends thought full time she was a angry hippie bitch, but still wanted to get some off her to brag and have a laugh. But no matter what she thought the motivations were, she wanted to just shrug it off and get to her next class by then.

By then, he was walking by, consumed by thoughts of his latest locker lockdown, how he would be yelled at yet again by a teacher who didn't know anything if he didn't hurry, how he could look forward to more yelling for some other reason by his parents, how he would be alone literally licking the wounds of his day to calm the pain, how it was the same exact formula every day and just how evil everyone he had known all his life was to him...

At the exact same moment these thoughts really started to overtake his brain, he turned his head for one brief moment. That was all it took to see his third biggest tormenter bang his fist against the locker when she wanted to get away from him, how the words of "bitch" and "dumbass" flew out of his mouth as easily as they did when he called him those words, and worse.

At seeing him use his evil tactics at some other undeserving person, even one he had gone to school with forever and barely ever had a talk with, his brain had all the excuse it needed to provide the final snap.

"Get away from her!!"

And with four quick kicks to Craig's testicles, his message was heard loud and clear.

And of course, the brief moment of triumph had to be balanced out by several teachers hearing the yell, and coming over to see the last two of his kicks.

"Butters Stotch, what the hell was that?!"

The riot act was well under way by the time Wendy Testaburger sat down next to the door of the principal's office. She would be called on to explain her role in this matter right after Butters was finished getting a dressing down.

Her first reaction was anger. She couldn't be here, she never got called to the principal's office for any reasons that didn't have to do with school planning and good standardized test marks and such. Besides, now she wasn't learning the things she needed to prepare for next week's test in her next class. Sure, Bebe would give her notes later, but she wasn't that reliable for accurate note taking. She already had Craig taken care off and would have got away from his crude advances, she didn't need some Melvin to kick him and drag her into explaining this mess. What would it look like if some nerd and loser was seen as defending her- hell, the thought of any man saving her as if she was some cliched, lame, sexist damsel in distress was sickening. She was mad at Butters and would let him know that when she had the chance.

At that point she actually started to hear what was coming out of the office.

"You're getting one heck of a spanking when we get home, Butters!"

"But dad-"

"Don't but your father, young man. You're lucky this suspension is only for a day as it is."

"But Mr Principal, Craig's done far worse things to me and he never got suspended!"

"If he did, you must have done something to provoke him. Your parents even admit you tend to be annoying and disrespectful and have very odd beliefs. It is only natural for people like Craig to target people like you, but the problem is when you fight back in such a violent way! That's not what we do here!"

"How come he gets to do it to me?"

"It is not about him, it's about you not sinking to his level, and you did. I don't care what it was for and how you say you wanted to help Wendy, you still attacked a student without him doing anything to you first at the time! You committed violence for no reason other than to satisfy your clearly damaged mind."

"But so does he! So does everyone!"

"That's how schools work, they're supposed to have one kid to take out their anger on. It's how it's always been, and it's better than having them go crazy and murder everyone else, at least here they just take it out on one person! Lesser kids like you have always been in this position, it's the way things work."

"Why can't it change, then?"

"Because that sort of talk is for lame people and gays and Communists who wanna drag us down just to satisfy some flowery gay Utopia crap! Trust me, it is acceptable and deserved in this case, and you can't be such a lame wuss for questioning it! Just don't say anything about it and take it like a man, unless you really are a fag girl like you claim they said you were last week!"

"Thank you for clearing that up, Mr Stotch."

"You're welcome, Principal."

"So, I'm a girl if I don't accept it, but if I try to fight back, I'm a bad guy?"

"Exactly, glad we could work this out before you had to go. When you come back, you will apologize to Craig and take whatever revenge he gives you. Remember, it is lame and unmanly to question why you get targeted so often, because it is a time honored system that makes us realize which kids are lame people that must be marked as such. You are one of those kids, so you must accept it because that seems to be all you're good for around here, and nothing else. But you won't be good at all if you sink to their level, is that clear?"

"Yes, Mr Principal..."

"Good, now you may take your son home, Mr Stotch. Hand me the bottle of whiskey over there first, though, I don't feel like getting up for it today."

15 seconds and one audible drinking sound later, Mr Stotch departed the office with his son. The boy didn't even bother to turn around to see Wendy sitting nearby, and she barely got a good look at him when she did.

Indeed, as the principal promised, Butters was not seen at school for the remainder of the day, or for the next day. In between the wait for his return, the other students either mocked Craig for being kicked so hard by a Melvin, or couldn't wait to see him get even, or both. The anticipation for that provided much buzz around the building, and provoked much thought about the whole thing and where it would go. Wendy too, wasn't immune to this buzz- but for vastly different reasons.

Her often knee jerk liberalism caused her to defend any non white, non heterosexual, non American, non Republican, non Christian, non maleor male if he was gay and/or not whiteperson when they did something wrong- after all, the evil Establishment and Republicans must have provoked them to do it, or secretly wished it to justify keeping him down or suppressing their own homosexual attractions to his kind. But here, a white male straight American had done something that he got punished for, even though he was in the moral right to do it. There's no doubt everyone secretly wished to kick Craig like that, if they hadn't already- and yet those same people couldn't wait to see Craig take his revenge. Indeed, Butters's treatment and how he was yelled at for hurting a bad guy who deserved it- that kind of situation would have stirred Wendy to make protest signs and flyers in a minute anytime else. It really was no different than other injustices that pissed her off- so why wasn't she more outraged?

Why did she react with anger originally when it happened? Why did it almost seem suitable, commonplace, and easy to agree with when she first thought about it? Why did she blame Butters for this at the start when she would have blamed everyone else in a similar sitation? Why did it almost seem okay because he was the scapegoat?

For that matter, why was she still thinking about someone she rarely, if ever, thought about in the last 8 or so years?

Though she was no closer to the answers, even more questions were about to pop up after she heard the sound of a skull landing hard on the hallway floor.

The revenge hadn't taken long to get carried out. Under orders from his parents and the principal, Butters headed to Craig to apologize. His thanks was a punch, instead of a kick, to the balls, and a harsh shove to the floor. Once the crying got started, so did the laughter and the usual pussy and gay insult towards him. Even though who were glad to see Craig get hit earlier applauded him, saying his manhood was back and everything was now back to the way it was. Butters somehow got himself to head to the nurse's office while no one but Wendy was looking, even while knowing he would be reprimanded for being late to class later on.

As lunchtime went on later in the day, Craig continued to have several people complement his moves. Wendy took note when one of them, Clyde Donovan, walked off to head back to his table. She moved quick to get to him before that happened.

"Aw, I already told you, I'll sign the 'Save the mongoose' petition later!"

"Thanks for reminding me of that, but this is different, Clyde. I was just wondering...yesterday, you said you were pretty happy to see Craig get kicked around by Butters, right?"

"Well yeah...that was before he bounced back and evened things out."

"So when he got kicked by Butters, he was lame and uncool because Butters is lame, right?"

Clyde nodded quickly. "Of course, I'd say the same thing about anyone who let that guy push him around!"

"But you were happy to see Craig get a taste of his own medicine before. Lots of people did, I could tell."

"Yeah, it was funny to see him shut up that way." Clyde got a good deal of laughter in before Wendy's retort.

"But now that he hurt Butters back, he's cool and acceptable to be around again?"

"I...guess so?"

"So you liked seeing Butters hurt him, but yet you cheered Craig on today anyway, although you hate Craig. But when he pushed around Butters, you liked him?"

"Well...at least it made sure that guy knows his place again. I mean, now that he knows not to mess with us, he won't think of hurting anyone else or probably shooting us sometime."

"So basically, Craig's automatically cool again because he hurt Butters in particular. Does it always work that way? Are people only labeled cool because they hurt him?"

"Well...when Cartman does it, it's one of the few times we can stand to be around him, that's for sure." Clyde was now officially confused by the interrogation. "Is this going anywhere, Wendy, because my food's getting cold."

Having gotten some of what she needed to know, she nodded and let him go on his way. The things Kyle, Token, Kenny, and even Jimmy told her when she asked the same questions confirmed it too.

The other students were stunned at seeing Butters defend himself, and a bit indignant even though they had done worse. Because he stood up to one of his tormentors, they were worried he might target them next, and Craig had thankfully put him back in his place. They liked seeing him in the doormat place, and had gone back to being fully upset at him for trying to leave it. Any joy they had at seeing an enemy go down turned to gratitude towards him for sending Butters back to where he belonged.

And although she was upset at him for different reasons, were they really no different in Wendy's case than theirs? Once she returned to her own table, that kept running through her mind frequently.

It was the knee jerk reaction of seemingly everyone to think of Butters as a nothing, and had been ever since grade school. Even Wendy, who thought of herself as so enlightened and beyond that thinking, thought that way as well. And because of what- that he actually came to her help against someone bugging the hell out of her? Would she have felt much more gratitude if it was someone with a better social standing? Perhaps so- and for someone who prided herself on bashing people who mistreated the lower classes, this was bordering a little too close on hypocrisy for her to take.

Once Bebe asked, "Wendy, are you there, girl?", she snapped out of her thinking and decided to conduct her final interviews for the day.

"Guys...do you think Butters is as lame and nerdy as all those other people said?" After a series of confused and puzzled facial reactions by the girls, it seemed obvious their answer was yes.

"The guy doesn't curse or nothing, he has a barely developed body type, he has that nasally little voice, and he just keeps on smiling and being friendly to assholes! How isn't that lame?", asked Jordan.

"I know, I know what you're saying...but if those guys are assholes, and they are, why aren't you more mad they pick on people like Butters?", Wendy replied.

"Wow, talking as if someone else is in the spotlight, I never thought I'd see the day..." Luckily for Red, Wendy didn't quite hear her muttering.

"Come on Wendy, he has no taste in anything cool, and he always acts like an annoying little bug around everyone! Who wouldn't wanna swat away someone like that?", Bebe said in a more outloud voice. The other girls nodded and quickly returned to their normal line of conversation, as Wendy once more was too busy thinking to join in.

It was true, even back in grade school, he was one of those kids you weren't supposed to be friendly with or defend, or else you'd be the target of Cartman's fag and pussy jokes for weeks- ones which even so called better kids like Stan and Kyle didn't disagree with. Ones which Wendy had never noticed until now. The fact she didn't notice this line of thinking, even though she had taught herself to see it everywhere else in society, was still a might disturbing.

But even if he didn't like to fight back against it, or say anything bad about his tormentors- why then did he choose to snap at that moment, on her behalf? What made that too much to bear for him, after all these years of him going through a lot worse?

Being a sociologist and an analyst of human behavior, these were just the sort of questions that would make Wendy wanna get to the bottom of anytime else. Now that she had been made aware that not speaking out against Butters's treatment undercut her own skills at finding and protesting injustice right under her nose- and since now it actually involved her in some way- perhaps it was time to check this out.

Perhaps it was time for her to get to the answers of the Butters Stotch phenominon and mystery. At the very least, it would give her something to do until the next big social crisis, and confirm she wasn't nearly as ignorant as the bigots she had to spend her days with.

Her new project would begin later tonight.


	3. Act 2

The product got delayed first, since Butters grounding was scheduled to last for a few more days.

For a minute that first night, Butters thought he heard a female voice talk with his father and almost demand to see him- but he figured the isolation and boredom was already making him hear things earlier than usual.

Three more days passed before Butters was allowed to leave his room during non school hours. When he got back to his room, he was preparing for a nice little lie down session near Stark's Pond, away from everyone else as usual, but peaceful nonetheless. This time, before he left, he was less convinced he was hearing voices when he heard that female voice from downstairs. This time, footsteps were heard as well. Without any time to dial 911, he just sat on his bed and waited for whatever bully that impersinated a woman's voice to come and get it over with. It was probably Cartman, since he knew from his "Britany Spears" spying 8 years ago that he could really get a girl's voice downpat.

"Butters? May I come in?"

He didn't know Cartman sounded like a girl that well since then- he even got Wendy's voice down to a t.

"All right Eric, nice job doing a girl, can you just get the prank over with now, please? Before my dad comes in and blames me and grounds me again?" Before Butters could kick himself for giving Cartman the perfect idea to screw him with, the door opened and it was clear the visitor looked nothing like Cartman.

"I've bugged him enough already that he won't wanna interrupt, so don't worry."

After the shock of seeing someone other than the usual bullies in his room- heck, the shock of seeing a human girl in his room, period- settle down, Butters could finally talk without his old stutter coming back- somewhat.

"Wendy? T-That's not Craig in disguise, for real? I know Cartman couldn't disguise himself that good, but Craig's thin enough to pull it off! But y-you're not him?"

"Last time I checked, I didn't have a penis, so there you go." She closed the door before Butters could actually understand what that meant.

"Well...if you're really Wendy, what are you doing in my room and 100 feet near me? Isn't it a rule that girls can't get this close to me?"

"Probably, that's why I wanted to talk in private. I'd rather not make this public until I got finished, or else I couldn't get anything done."

"Done? Anything?" Butters got a good share of nervous knuckle rubbing in before Wendy tried to clear things up.

"After what happened last week...you kicking a guy in the balls cause he annoyed me...I guess that got me thinking.. Specificially about...what the heck did you do that for?"

"Didn't you say it was cause he was annoying you? Sounds like you figured it out already without having to ask me." Butters actually chuckled a bit at his own logic, which made Wendy think of a new tactic- speak in clear terms.

"You haven't fought back against anyone for years, why did you do it now for me? That one I don't know the answer to." Yet she still tried to answer it before he could anyway. "Do you have a secret crush on me from afar? Were you actually jealous Craig wanted to ask me out...cause you secretly like him? Did you come in prepared to beat up a lotta people?"

"No, I swear! Did, did the principal order you to ask me, I told him I wasn't gonna rebel against the bullying system no more, I swear again!"

"So why did you do it that time? You're already taking that crap with a smile and being all happy about it, why stop then?"

Suddenly, that seemed to be the statement that broke down his worry, and turned it to something resembling anger. But instead of verbal jabs, he just responded by going into his closet and pulling out what resembled a photo album. And the resemblance was purely intentional, as Wendy saw when Butters opened it to reveal many pictures- all of himself at various ages.

His baby years, early elementary school years, and moreso his fourth grade year was shown first. All photos of him smiling, either alone or with his family or in a class picture or with schoolmates who didn't seem that pleased to be in the picture. But in all of those, the bright smile that others would have found cute, but others found gay and wussy like, was there and very wide.

Right when Wendy figured that out, he turned the pages to show images of the next 8 years. As more and more came up, a common theme was becoming clear- the smile was still there, but the subtlest signs were there that it was forced. That it took some effort. That the clear, unconditional joy of the past years was fading away. That he wasn't smiling because he was happy and chipper- he only did it because it's required for a photo. These were hollow, by the numbers smiles, not the ones of a boy who loved being there and loved everything around him. This undercut Wendy's earlier point- which was now obviously Butters's point.

"I only smile all the time now cause if I don't, they win. They keep doing stuff to me cause I'm always happy- and I'm sure if I let them know they wrecked my happiness, they'd have one more reason to brag and say they won. Then I'd really never hear the end of it, and those times where I can relax in between pranks will be in big trouble. Those times are all I got left."

"So...you're a depressive emo kid now?"

"No no, I said I'd rather be a crying little pussy than a lame Goth kid, and obviously I'm still a crying pussy. But just on the inside now."

Butters turned once more to his closet and took some more weird items out. This time, the common denominator was that these were all items, games, toys, and brickabrack that 8 year olds would use, not any self respecting 16 year old.

"These are the last things left that made me happy back then. I gotta keep them around to make me happy and relaxed now...if I lose interest and don't have fun with them, then I really got nothing left that made me love life as much as I did then. Even now, I still kinda feel like I'm faking it. See, last week when I played with my Hello Kitty drawings, I-" At that point, Butters remembered he was actually talking about one of the most lame things imaginable, at least by the standards of regular people like Wendy. "Oh...well, go ahead and call me gay now. Do it quick, then I might have good memories of this stuff left in my head."

He took a last look at his belongings while they were still untainted. But strangely, 10 seconds went by and he didn't hear anything that would taint them.

"Hey...I remember those dolls. And that Hello Kitty video game. That's the only video game I played when I was younger- probably the only video game I've ever played! It was the only one on the shelves that didn't have killing or muscled up boys or sexism every two levels, so I had no choice."

"Well...my parents wouldn't let me buy any of the violent cool games, so I kinda had no choice too. But I fell in love with it in no time!"

"This really came in handy after some rough study sessions" Wendy remarked with a noticably nostalgic tone. "I didn't get all the way to the end until two weeks in, which might be a little sad for someone with my-"

"You got to the end of Hello Kitty Island Adventure?! Oh wow, I was two levels short when I was 12, I haven't been that good since!" Butters, once more forgetting he was in front of a fellow student, starting jumping up and down with excitement. "How'd you do it? I'm sure you can tell me in a way that isn't cheating!"

Since Butters didn't have any of the four new gaming systems that came out over the last eight years, they could play it rather easily with that very old, primative XBox. But Butters once again remembered how lame the rest of the world thought that was, and saw a look of confusion on Wendy's face. However, although there was the tinest trace of her expression seeming forced- eventually, the more she smiled as she took the game and headed to figure out how to put it in the ancient gaming system, it appeared more genuine.

And for someone not used to seeing someone around him look genuinely content, this was a red letter event.

Over the next hour, Wendy's teaching of the finer points of Hello Kitty Island Adventure were getting through. Once she demonstrated the tricks of getting past the island defenses, Butters put them into practice quite well. By his fourth effort, he got past his old record and was quite close to reaching the final round, but fell just short. Wendy figured she needed to play one more time to get him over the hump, so she went to doing just that. To the surprise of both, she was having fun doing it.

"Even after 4 years away from it, this island is still my bitch!"

"Oh jeez, the island's not that bad, the game creators filled it with all those flower hating Japan folk in the first place..." Unlike the first few times Butters made a clueless response, Wendy smiled at this one.

"Did you ever find anyone to play this with before?"

"Back when Tweek and Pip were around me, yeah. Once they ignored me to be best friends by themselves, I got good playing on my own."

"Butters...you always wanted to be friends with everyone back in elementary school. Are you still that eager to make friends now? After all that's happened?"

For the second time, she could tell she hit a nerve on him, one that really cut to his very core. But this time, he responded with actual words.

"I...I wish all of me still did. But there's a part of me that doesn't even wanna try anymore. I think the majority of me still wants to be friends with people and really try to have fun with 'em...but it's probably only 65 of me now. It used to be 100 before."

"My guess is if you started talking back to people and being rude more often, you'd be liked."

"I know...but if they'd only like me because I was a bad person, cause I'm not good or nice or friendly anymore, cause they think that stuff is for lame people...it's probably not worth being friends with fellas like that. The old 100 me wouldn't have cared about that, but now I do. Maybe that means I'm smarter now...but I don't like being that kinda smart."

For about the 10'th time, Butters figured that something he said would finally make Wendy remember she didn't hang around people like him. And once more, pleasent surprise met him instead.

"Well, if that's something you don't want them to have the satisfaction of knowing, they won't. Not from me."

"Really? How come? Everyone else woulda used that as blackmail or worse, why not you?"

"Butters, I'm no Republican or self hating Republican homosexual. I don't do that sort of thing. Okay, so I didn't bother to find out this stuff earlier...but when I see something unjust and prejudiced, I do take objection to it. Everyone knows that by now, and I make the rest of them see it clearly."

Everyone other than Butters knew this routine. The one where Wendy spoke out against injustice, but did more talking about herself and her enlightenment. But to their discredit, they were wrong in thinking she did it on purpose. Call it one of those unconsicious flaws where she meant every word, but didn't care how it came across. But for Butters, he still had enougn naivity left to believe she meant every word and she really was that great for saying so. So he hung on her every word as she went on.

"You know, everyone needs to feel relaxed and like a kid again, even me. You just hold onto that more than everyone else, that's your only crime. Okay, so they can say they have a case for thinking your lame...but I'm in the process of finding out just how good that case is. They've never questioned why they hate you, they just do it cause it's normal. I actually wanna see some evidence that you're that bad and awful...so far, I don't see it yet."

Again, she meant every word- or was throughly convinced in her heart that she did. That pesky subconsience may have thought different, she didn't know and didn't bother to know.

But without that subtext, nothing could stop Butters's glee at hearing someone say this to him- and someone who was a girl and in the upper cool classes at that. Before he could say this in words, he heard the familar sounds of his dad calling him for dinner. And once he did, that reminded Wendy she actually had to go to her own house to eat by now.

She quickly gathered herself up to go, but turned before she opened the door. "If I can...may I come over again sometime? I think we still have a lot to talk about."

"Well...come over and talk my head off anytime, then! I've got more than enough alone time to use up for that!"

After Wendy nodded and headed out, both were smiling for a good few minutes afterwards- each for different reasons...or so it would seem.

Every night, after he turned out the lights and before he went to sleep, Butters went under his blanket and used his flashlight to see as he played. Specifically, he played with very accurate cardboard like drawings of the other South Park young men. This was the one place where he could see themselves as truely one of them- although he hadn't felt like doing it in a while, he did now.

Mainly because his brand new cut out, cardboard Wendy was among this group for the first time. Since they had never really talked, Butters didn't feel that he needed to pretend to be her friend. But now, not only did he feel like, he began to put together thoughts that she might be a friend for real.

About 6 years had gone by since he could say he had one...could he really believe that he had a change to change that now, after all that had happened to prove him wrong?

He had enough fun talking to the fake Wendy that night, that he figured taking one more leap of faith might be worth it.

The next day, a good night's sleep and no lectures from his parents this morning put Butters in a happy mood. So much so, he actually felt brave enough to talk to Wendy in public, despite the gossip and remarks that might bring. He wanted to at least confirm what night she could come over again, and maybe share some Kitty game secrets he figured out overnight. But with all this thinking of good things, he forgot to actually carry out this plan while he was on the school bus. So, he revised his timeline and decided to see her in the halls before class.

After getting his stuff out of his locker, and filled with confidence since he didn't get put into it, he went over to find Wendy's locker. Instead of seeing her, he saw Bebe, Red, and Jordan nearby.

"Um...can any of you girls please tell me where Wendy is, please?" The girls turned and immediatly look stunned that someone like him was talking to them- and asking for Wendy, at that.

"What does that mean? What do you mean, you wanna talk to her? What would she wanna see you for?", asked Jordan, before she slapped her forehead and laughed. "No way! No freaking way...this is her new charity case now! Dear God, she is pathetic!"

Red joined in the laughter, though Bebe's was a little less loud and heartfelt. Butters still didn't know why they needed to laugh, though. "Why do you need to laugh, I don't get it."

"Jesus, haven't you been living on the same planet? Probably not, but still! She's gonna use you to make us look like knuckle dragging bigots and say how she's so much better than us, that bitch! I knew once she got done demonizing the rest of the town, she'd go to us next! And after the biting we've done to our tounges, she should be worshipping us! But that's probably sexist to her too!" Once Red's rant was done, Butters was more desperate to clear up this extra big confusion.

"Why are you insulting her like that? I thought she was your friend, I thought everyone liked her! I can see why, since it looks like she likes me now, that's why I wanted to see her!"

"You've probably heard this a billion times, but this is a billion and one. Grow up already!" Jordan snickered. "She doesn't care about you, or about anyone else but herself! She only pretends that she cares about oppressed, lower people to make herself look better, so she'll be called brilliant and a genius by everyone! She probably thinks she'll become President with that crap one day!"

"Yeah, like we'd vote for her. She has this raging temper for anyone who doesn't bow to her, she hardly talks to any of those 'victims' after she's done with them, and now she's just gonna use you to paint us as evil now!" Red finished, then decided to continue. "Of course, you've always been too ignorant to realize the truth about bullies like her, so I guess she wasn't smart in tricking you."

"B...Bullies? Like her", replied Butters, now at the end of his good mood.

"Duh, like killing a teacher and using Bebe to break up with Stan and then Token wasn't proof enough, right Bebe?", said Jordan to the still silent Bebe. All Bebe could do was nod her head briefly, though that still didn't mean she was comfortable with where this was going.

"That's right, Butters. So do yourself a favor, ask around about what people really think of your new friend and how we can't stand her. Then maybe you'll avoid looking like a stupid ass for the first time ever."

Jordan turned her back to Butters as he just started blankly, and a bit sadly. He finally dragged himself out of the scene, and after he did, Red and Jordan began to chuckle to themselves until Bebe finally spoke up.

"Do you have any idea what you've done?! What if Wendy heard you?! Hell, she'll find out anyway and then kill you!"

"You know what, it wouldn't be so bad if she did." answered Red. "Why the hell have we pretended to keep our real feelings about her secret anyway?"

"Because if you did tell her, she'd go ballistic and start a full blown civil war in here!" Bebe bluntly answered.

"See, you're her best friend and even you admit she's that unstable! And now she's gonna use that lame-o to make us look like jackasses, after all the covering up we've done! It's time she figured out the truth and how stupid she was that she didn't know earlier! Hell, she's probably just as oblivious as Butters, and that's pretty damm lame and stupid!"

"Well said, Red. If she's gonna kill us, then at this point, it's better to get it over with now than to hear her for much longer."

Seeing no more need to defend their position, Red and Jordan took their leave. Bebe watched them go, then saw Butters from far away, asking questions to some of the others. After they answered with a frown and then told him to go away, he looked especially down. Red and Jordan's version of the truth about Wendy seemed to be hitting home for him.

Still being Wendy's best friend put some kind of guilt on Bebe. And admittingly, when she whispered to her on the bus about her encounter with Butters the previous night, she did look a bit more sincere about it than usual. Perhaps there was the chance that she really did care about a poor person for deeper reasons than headline grabbing.

But once Red and Jordan got on their truth kick and told everyone not to hide their real feeling much longer, that probably wouldn't matter. However, maybe it was best in the long run for Wendy to know what people really thought of her and how much she wasn't Ms perfect and Ms ultra popular.

As Bebe headed to class and passed the office of the school newspaper where Wendy was, she started to pray that when Wendy found out, there wouldn't be that many bodies cluttering the halls.


	4. Act 3

At the very moment when doubt had been cast on how sincere Wendy was involving Butters, there was some evidence refuting that claim going on right then.

Despite the low readership of the school newspaper, it was one extra way for Wendy to spread her views on any given subject, as a recurring op/ed columnist. Now, she was informing the heads of the paper about her next column.

"This'll be the hardest hitting column I've written since the one about the principal buying groceries from a store right wingers go to! This time, the subject is the whole school itself!" Wendy began towards the editor. "Our treatment of 'nerds'- harmless social situation, or degenerative bigotry?"

"Another bigotry column? You've done so many of those that the term has lost it's meaning by now.", the editor said, a bit tired by getting only 5 hours of sleep last night, and by her latest little tirade.

"This time it's different, I'm not taking on the usual bigots! It's the ones right here in our school, and not just Cartman! It's everyone who believes that messing with weaker people who don't fight back is a right of passage! It's that kind of cultural misinformation that turns kids into the grownup bigots and abusers and rednecks that keep the corporate owned politicians in power!"

"So this is another 'corporations must die' piece? Aren't 6 of those in one semester enough? And I thought this was about bullying, not that other stuff, so what are you writing here?"

"I haven't written anything, my study is still ongoing. But I want to reserve a column for about a week or two from now, when I do get finished. I'll have all the juicy facts by then, and it'll rock this place to its core!"

"Oh, like your 'you're racist if you don't re-elect Obama' piece freshman year? That sure turned out great."

"How was I supposed to know Mormons would vote that much for Romney? Even Larry King's clone didn't see them making that much difference for him!" Sighing in impatience, Wendy had to wrap this up before class started. "Just free up that space for me and I'll take care of the rest."

"Do I have a choice?"

"Not if you don't want prejudiced people running this school you don't." Wendy headed off so that would be the last word. Once again, she figured that line of talking would bug him enough to free up the space- and once again, she didn't see that although it got her the win, it also got the opponent cursing and grumbling a lot while he did it. But even so, as long as the objective was achieved, the rest was meaningless.

Though it would only remain that way for the next two hours.

When lunch time came about, Butters once more sat alone, a little tiny bit more dejected than usual. However, with no knowledge of why, Wendy took this in stride. She figured if she was gonna start drumming up controversy over this issue, and her upcoming article, she should start showing it in public. Once they saw her talking to him and not pulling a prank, it would get them riled up and ready to get lectured. Anxious to get started, she cleared her throat loudly once she got to Butters' table, and then satisfied that people were probably watching, she paid her full attention to him.

"You mind if I sit down? I thought we might continue some of our talk from last night."

One small thing happened that wasn't in Wendy's plan- Butters didn't light up or anything, and didn't even look at her. Perhaps he didn't hear her amidst whatever misery happened to him today.

"Ahem, Butters? I'm here to talk to you in public, may I sit down to do that?"

She waited for someone to start objecting by now- but not only did that not happen, Butters still seemed like he wasn't paying attention.

"Oh, I see...well, you don't have to worry about getting hurt for speaking to a popular person. You can speak freely to me."

"Popular...you really think that?", was Butters weird first response in the convo.

"Well...sure, you yourself said it last night. I am popular, and yet I'm talking to you."

"You said I twice...that's more than you talked about me."

"I guess so...and that means?"

Rather than clear it up, he just increased the confusion by moving to sit further away from her. "What is that for?", Wendy asked, but wasn't rewarded with an answer.

"Butters, I told you, I have the power to talk to you and get away with it, and I'll make them see it soon!"

Now she was indeed getting attention, but not in the way she had worked towards. The plan further fell apart when Butters finally turned to face her and got everything out in the open.

"You could have just asked me for help if you wanted to make everyone look like bigots and less enlightened than you cause they pick on me. But you just tried to trick me since you wanna get your name mentioned more than helping me. Bebe, Red, and Jordan filled me in, and everyone else confirmed that you help people like me just to get noticed and no one likes you for it! That's no real way to help someone...but I probably still woulda helped you if you just let me know about it instead of tricking me...like those people that you think are bigots do."

With that, he left to find another table or another room to eat at- leaving Wendy to face the stares, the fear, and the agreement equally divided among the mix of people watching.

Once she gazed the reactions of everyone else, she moved to find three specific faces in the crowd- Bebe, Red, and Jordan.

"May I speak to you for a moment now?", she asked while making extra sure to show her gritted teeth.

"What in the good God did you tell him?!"

"The truth, wasn't it?"

"You told him I was using him to advance my own agenda and paint everyone as evil!"

"Again, wasn't that the truth?"

Before Wendy and Jordan got even closer to each other in anger, Bebe decided to make at least one effort to prevent war.

"Look, all they said is that they think you're not being sincere. No need to start punching them out for that, right?"

"It sounds like they told him more than that!"

"And what if we did?", chimed Red.

"Then we'll come to that when it comes, but-"

"Oh, shut up Bebe! Wendy, no one likes you, we hate how you're stuck up and brag about how 'enlightened' you are and how stupid every white male and white Republican is, and we can't stand your bitching! All you do is bitch and whine and we hate it! We just pretend not to because we know you're unstable enough to murder us for it like you did Miss Ellen- who by the way, never wanted to screw Stan in the first place! Shows how smart you really are!"

When Red was finished, Bebe cringed in waiting for the blood to spill, while Jordan got herself steady in case she needed to join in. Wendy stood still though, and her hands weren't fists yet, so they had a little more time.

"How dare you go off base like that...I try to help in fixing this screwed up place, and this is the thanks I get?"

"See, once again, you just keeping talking about your efforts and how screwed up the rest of us are! You think people like being told they're evil and stupid and guilty just because they're white every single day?!" screeched Red.

"Is it screeching if it's true?", was Wendy's question following a question. "They're mad because I tell them the truth that they're not smart enough to figure out yet. And they won't get that smart unless I help them."

"Or lecture them until they feel guilty for evil stuff that half of them didn't even do.", added Jordan.

"They've never stopped others from doing it, so that makes them just as bad. It's really a simple thing, if you know how to think about it."

"Wendy, you're probably digging yourself into more of a hole with this.", pointed out Bebe. "You're making it sound like if we disagree with you, we're all psychopaths who enable evil Americans. That can't be what you really think."

"It's an exaggeration of the truth, but if it helps get people there, then it's an apt one."

With that, Red and Jordan stopped using words and headed right towards grabbing her by the arms and taking her with them down the hall.

"Let me go, you racists!!" But that hardly stopped them from heading back into the newspaper office, and in fact made them head inside a lot quicker. Once they did, Red and Jordan headed to the editor.

"Open the door to the secret letters, please." The editor looked up after Red's question, and then looked to see Wendy there as well.

"Wait, she's here with you? So why the hell should I risk my life doing that, then?"

"She's here to read them, and she's not going away until she does."

"The hell I'm not, Jordan! Don't listen to this white people propaganda!"

"She's gonna be made to see the truth once and for all, and the letters are gonna do the job. Open the office to them now, and you'll never have to be bulled into putting her in the paper again!"

Red's way with words did the trick, as the editor actually smiled at this and headed for an office door. When he opened it, Red and Jordan took Wendy inside to show her it's content- a room with very little to speak of except five brown, sealed boxes piled together.

"This is the room contain all the negative letters to the editor you've gotten since freshman year. Why do you think all the commentary and letters about your articles have been 100 positive? Whatever you think, it's wrong, because the editor hid all the negative letters away and didn't print them! Why would that be? Because you're so bossy and superior and quick to anger that you'd have beaten up your opposition! They knew it and wrote those letters anyway, even though they knew they would never get published! They had to take their frustration out somehow, though! And now you're going to read every unpublished negative opinion that's been written about you for the last 2 1/2 years! We were wrong to hide them for this long, but at least we know when to stop doing stupid things!"

As Jordan's long speech went on and one, Red took some keys from the editor and locked the door so escape was improbable. Wendy looked at the both of them, then at a silent Bebe, who was hoping this would be over with no teeth spilled on the floor.

"So you let me go if I read these comments?"

"We can do over the top things to get the truth out as well. But unlike you, we're actually gonna get somewhere with it. Everyone's written at least one letter in there, so let's start comparing them.", wrapped up Red.

And with that, Red and Jordan took the boxes and started to open them. By the time their insides were revealed, they could see about 30-40 envelopes inside each one. And since this made Wendy stop frowning out of surprise at seeing so many, the other girls figured they'd better start opening the letters themselves and showing them to her while they could- while the window of opportunity to show Wendy the light was this open.

All told, according to Red and Jordan, it took them an hour to get through all the letters. When Wendy was allowed to return to her classes, they explained she was too busy working on the paper to come earlier, and the teachers bought in. Wendy said no more words for the rest of the day, and left school faster and quieter than everyone else.

By then, the gossip was well under way, and the word that students didn't need to bite their tongues about Wendy anymore was well past out. Relief filled pretty much all of the mob of students.

"Man, it is about time! You girls did quite a service for us!", exclaimed Clyde.

"Finally, we can actually debate her when she bashes everyone but herself! That'll save so much aggravation and eye rolling!", added Kyle.

"Now instead of calling her a bitch under our breaths, we can do it out loud!" an unnamed girl who wasn't in the South Park kids group in elementary school pointed out.

"And to think, it all started when Mr ball-less here got the balls rolling!" explained Craig when he pointed to Butters. "He set the stage, and these genius hotties took up the slack! Finally, what a time for the Melvin to act like an actual human being and trash someone!"

"Yeah, I guess at least 1 of him is more human than made up of fag juice!" added Cartman, who people only listened to at times like this, when someone just as unpopular was being discussed. "Way to step outta the fag trend for the first time ever! You partly stopped the bitch's tyranny!"

The completely unfamiliar sight of people approving of something Butters did continued with some applause and praise for a few more seconds.

"So...you're happy with something I did because I insulted someone else?"

"Someone who deserved it for trashing us for years! At least this time when you fought back against someone, it's someone we approve of hating!" Craig continued. "So no pranks on you for the next two days!"

"Because I made her feel despised and hated?"

"Because you finally acted like a real person, so don't go back to fagland already, k?" Cartman asked while really giving an order.

By the time Butters figured out what he wanted to say to that, the others had already left.

Butters had been informed by Wendy's mother that she had not come out of her room since school ended. However, he figured he could still do what he came to do without that being a problem. So he headed up the stairs to the door of her room, and quietly knocked.

"Wendy? Can you hear me?"

No answer came. And unbeknownst to him, he was barely being heard in the first place because those letters from the editor's office had Wendy's full attention, as she reread them for the 4'th time today. Without that knowledge, he figured she could still hear him anyway, and went on.

"Look, I...I heard what happened today, and everyone's giving me credit for getting it started. But I didn't wanna...so, so I just came here to say I was sorry, and I'm okay with you using me for your own political gain."

Still no response came, but this time he had an audience now. The reading stopped as she listened in more closely.

"I've pretty much been used all my life for one reason or another...all of it's been for other people's selfish gain. They're all saying you're selfish, but at least you're selfish for the right reasons. Even if you just do it to get attention and stroke your ego, at least you're bringing attention to a real problem! You're doing some good while being selfish, which is more than I could say about everyone else! If I gotta be used and manipulated, at least this time I know it's gonna do some good...at least your using isn't gonna hurt me on purpose."

Without knowing how his attempt to make her feel better was actually increasing her uneasiness and guilt, he went on.

"I just...I just wanna talk to somebody who isn't as bad as them. I don't care if you think of me more as an object of oppression than a real friend...at least that's better than what they think of me. Heck...at this point, I'll take talking and pretending to be friends with anyone rather than no one. You were right...those days of me thinking a lot of people could like me one day are over. I have no one to hang around with, talk to, or share my feelings with without being called gay or worse. And I probably never will for the foreseeable future. Even though we won't be real friends and even if you're just pretending to put up with me...I'd accept that as the closest thing to friendship I'll get. And you can quote that in your article if you want, okay? So...I don't care if you're underhanded...at least it's an underhanded that's better than anything else I know. So don't let today ruin that, please?"

The trend of her not saying a word continued on, until Butters figured he wasn't gonna stop it. Deciding to leave her alone so she could consider his request, he headed on his way home.

She never came close to wanting to come out of her room for the rest of the day.

The tipping point came over the next two days. Word was fully out that no one had to suck up to Wendy anymore, or pretend to approve of her comments to avoid her wrath. As such, since Wendy didn't bother to make comments, no one talked to her or came near her. They just left her alone, as some were still trying to get ready for whenever she would snap, and some just didn't wanna talk to her period. Bebe wanted to come over and comfort her, but eventually figured she would have a better chance of being heard if she waited a few days, thinking Wendy needed that time to calm down. For that time period, Wendy was invisible and ignored as anyone else bringing up the rear of the social food chain.

Absolutely none of it was lost on her.

As a mostly privileged girl who raised herself to be the moral crusader of South Park, she never really had to face hardships. Aside from Stan's old puking habit and explaining to Bebe why she had to tell guys she broke up with them for her, everything came easy. She stood up for what she thought was the undeniable truth, so therefore, if she said these things, no one could question her judgment or tact or else they exposed themselves to be evil brainwashed tools. That was how it worked ever since she could remember- that was the only way she'd ever known. For all the praise she'd gotten in the right circles, it must have been the right way- unless they were lying behind her back as well. After this, who could say?

Anyway, the main point was that she assumed people liked what she did, liked how smart she was, and appreciated her. Now all that was in danger of being a giant lie, if it already wasn't. But how could everyone hate her just for doing good? What the hell had she done for people to have a negative knee jerk reaction to her? All she did was the right things, did it matter how she did them? Who were they to act like she was no better than...than...

...than the very people she had professed to help all these years...people like Butters...and her first reaction was to be angry at being considered to be as low as they were. Having a first reaction of anger and embarrassment at Butters was how this entire mess started...partly to get rid of her fear that she was like those uneducated people. But now...now she was on the level of Butters via being pretty much hated by everyone.

Now she really was as looked down upon of one of the people she championed...and she hated it. She hated it a lot after only two days of putting up with it, and couldn't figure out how people like Butters dealt with it every day...

Every day...

...every day for at least 9 or so years, if not more...every day of his life...

...she couldn't stand it for two days...and it took him 9 years to be completely broken by it...

...the pure and utter hell she felt multiplied by about a billion days was his life 24/7...and the toll of that was clearly shown in that speech from earlier.

The boy who wanted to be friends with everyone and show love and kindness to all, now had been broken enough to want to be used and discarded by someone willingly, as long as it helped him pretend he had a friend...even that was better than everything else he had going for him.

That was how low his standards for friendship had been forced to fall?

All that after feeling for years what she had only put up with for two days?

If she was that upset about going through that, how many zillions of time worse had his life been?

If she now knew first hand how it felt, the depths of his despair now seemed like they could fill up two solar systems...and as horrible as it was, she did not and could not see it until recently.

Once more, she was faced with the horrific realization that she had ignored a truly rotten situation for years right under her nose, and she wasn't truly compassionate enough to see it and stop it earlier, no matter what she had tried to do for him now.

And the fact that he was the only one she knew that did not write a negative unpublished letter about her articles all this time was an impact maker as well.

This time, she could not disguise her guilt.

This time, she could not hide behind the evils of everyone else.

This time, she had to put up with the fact that she really was no better than all those others who ignored him and his friendship.

This time, she had to face that if she really was the equivalent of those others in this case- was she really their equivalent in others?

All those letters and all those nasty words she had been exposed to this week said that she was.

She did not truly care for those she stood up for, they said...and now, she had nothing to prove them wrong.

She never really felt for them as a person...until now, now that she finally had an idea what it was like to live the kind of life Butters had gone through, and even then it wasn't nearly close to his kind of misery.

This was the kind of misery she only cared about when she could make a social statement out of it. And even then, when he could see that before she could, he believed it was the best relationship he could ever have.

To pretend to be friends with someone no one else could stand...much like no one could stand him...

By the time she found herself at Butters's house after all these thoughts consumed her very being, her breakdown of tears and sobs had already begun. And even as Butters ran outside and led her towards his living room, there was no sign it was gonna end anytime soon.


	5. Act 4

"So they hated you, but they didn't want you to know about it?"

"Uh huh...that might explain why they were so eager to finally tell me."

"But Wendy, everyone's always so eager to tell me and other unpopular people we're awful! Why didn't they just tell you from the start?"

"Because they believed I would go ballistic and insane if anyone dared to question me."

"Because they were afraid you'd actually fight back?"

"I guess that's another way to say it, Butters."

"Geez, it's just like bullies to be afraid of that...it's their own fault if they made innocent people turn that bad, anyway."

"No, Butters...I've begun to consider the option they might be on to something."

"Wendy?"

"Come on, if everyone hated me, you must have heard some of their complaints. That I'm a rabble rousing whiner, that I demand everyone agree with me or they're bigots, that I think I'm so better than everyone else..."

"Well, you kinda are...though it's not hard to be better than some of those people."

"That's what I thought, only now they say I'm an asshole for it!"

"Well...Wendy, I know you're still a good person, and I know I'm still a good person. They just hate good people, I guess, so what do they know?"

"Butters...I have a photographic memory, I just don't choose to use it all the time. So when I went back and remembered all the times I got pissy like they said I did...you know how many times that actually happened?"

"Um...10?"

"You mean 10 times more than that, at least."

"I do? Hmm, didn't know that's what I was thinking."

"You're lucky you know what you're thinking...I don't know anything anymore. Maybe I never did..."

"Hold on...you're saying now you don't know who you are because they hate you? But Wendy, didn't you say I shouldn't let people hating me get in the way of doing stuff I like?"

"My beliefs are topsy turvey at the moment...whatever I say can't be taken seriously now...besides, you yourself said you knew I was using you to make a political point."

"And I said I wanna be used, it's better than nothing."

"Well, the article's off...no way I can do it now, after all this."

"Oh...so I guess you don't need me anymore, in that case...all right, at least you actually told me and didn't lie to me. More than I can say for the others."

"Wait, Butters...now that the truth is out, I don't think anyone's gonna talk to me for a while. You saw how no one came near me today."

"Yeah, I know the signs of being shunned, there were some pretty blatent ones today."

"I can't be alone right now, knowing all this...I gotta keep myself busy before this drowns me."

"So...you need me to do that for you now?"

"No, no, it's not like that! I...I hung out with you because I wanted to know why people hated you, if you were really that lame...and to see if I could get new material out of it. And maybe to prove myself to be better than people I said were uneducated, I don't know. All my alterior motives have been shot now. Now...I just need someone to help me and keep me company. Someone I can trust...someone who may be the only honest guy left that I know."

"Well...aren't there any honest girls left?"

"Butters, I strongly doubt it, if Red and Jordan were any indication."

"Wendy, I..."

"I'm not gonna demand that you let me spend more time with you...that sure won't help me at this point. But if you can let me back into your world...maybe we can help each other in ways that have nothing to do with speeches or talking points. I...I wanna know about you because you genunely facinate me."

"..."

"Butters?"

"How about I show you that stuff I learned in Hello Kitty first?"

"How often do you come down here, Butters?"

"I schedule about once a week, but I usually wind up coming here more than that."

"Because of the hard time at school and home?"

"Yeah...the quiet of a place nearby Stark's Pond is much better after getting yelled at. Lying in the snow and looking at the sky if it's real pretty...I guess thinking about how small I really am puts everything in perspective. I mean, I can't possibly be the most unlucky person in the whole world...in something that big, there's gotta be thousands, or millions of people worse, sadly..."

"Yeah...it's so big that even when you try to fix some problems, it's not enough...that I've learned the hard way over the years."

"And yet you still kept trying to change things. Heck, at least it'd be better to change at least one part of the world than none, right Wendy?"

"By those standards, yeah...but I've always been an overachiever. Maybe that's how this got started."

"Better than being an underacheiver like...oh right, you're trying not to trash people as much anymore. Well, since I'm someone who got real good at not trashing people before, I should be a better example."

"It's fine...let's get back to talking about the world, not specific people."

"So why didn't you go back to Stan when Token left you?"

"We hadn't really talked for 3 years...you think after all that, he'd just take me back right on the spot?"

"He takes Cartman back as being his friend all the time, even after he tries to hurt Kyle. So why wouldn't he do the same for you?"

"It's complicated...he probably agreed with all their hidden hate of me anyway. He had as much reason as anyone."

"Well, it was lame and wussy for boys to like girls at our age, according to those people. Maybe Stan felt the pressure and didn't wanna look un manly, and that's why he stopped paying attention to you."

"And then he joined the Goths afterwards, like that's manly. I was thinking of apologizing for making him do that, then he called me a bitch and flipped Token off. I just forgot about it ever since and ignored him back."

"Hmm...maybe I did too good of a job when I said I loved life and he went back to normal cause of it."

"...that was you? I heard someone helped talk Stan outta being a Goth, I...didn't know it was you."

"Well, I never said he shouldn't be one, I just said I didn't wanna cause I liked life, even after I was dumped. Of course, I didn't know she just liked me cause I gave tips and stuff."

"...you fell for a Raisins girl, didn't you?"

"Yeah, how'd you know?"

"The tip comment gave it away pretty clear."

"Wow, it did, didn't it? Oh man..."

"Heh...there's something we did have in common before now. We each had one hell of a chaotic time in that time period. You just learned a better lesson about life than me."

"Guess we're lucky I ran into Stan when I did, or he'd still be depressed and mopey."

"Yeah...I guess so..."

"No, he never actually hits me, he just yells and screams, that's all!"

"Well Butters, words can still hurt as much as fists, you know that."

"Yeah...but my dad and my mom mean well."

"If they meant well, they wouldn't keep belitting you."

"But it's because of them that I learned to behave myself and be good all the time!"

"And that's why people hate you, because you learned so well that they thought you were lame for it."

"I thought it was good that I was like that."

"It is, Butters, it is...but their standards are so strict that you get into trouble for anything in their eyes. That certainly doesn't help you, among everything else you go through."

"I know, I know...but I've made it this far. I've only got a year and a half to go before graduation, maybe it'll change then."

"Do you wanna go to an out of state school after high school?"

"I, well, um...probably not, I couldn't afford that fancy stuff. I'd have to find one close to home."

"Which means you'll probably have to stay with your parents. Which means they probably won't change."

"But Wendy, are you saying I gotta leave home for them to change?"

"No, no, not in that way...I'm saying that change has to come soon, while you can still break away from their influence. Your parents should take care of you and protect you from the crap you get...instead they say it's your fault and say you're stupid like everyone else. That's the worst part of it all...the two people that are supposed to protect and help you, and even they won't do it."

"Well...I..."

"Just think about it. You don't have to yell at them or hit them or make a scene or nothing...just don't let them get to you as much."

"Well...you could say you had mental problems back then. That might deflect some questions."

"Not for long, Butters. If I run in politics, the press will dig up everything about me, and sooner or later they'll find some connection between me and Miss Ellen. I don't know if it'll be enough to determine I had her killed...but they can be good at finding that stuff."

"Well, have it leak in the tabloid presses first! No one takes anything they say seriously at all! A few weeks of it being in there, and no one'll ever believe it's true, even if it makes national newspapers!"

"...that might just be crazy enough to work...how did you figure that out?"

"Back when the fellas used me as their replacement 'friend', I had to think of lots of ways things could go bad, and ways to get out of it. I wasn't good at doing that back then, but over time, I figured out ways I could have."

"I'll certainly remember that if I have to."

"Great! Maybe it's good that you found out people don't like you now! I mean, now that you know this, you can think of ways to deflect their criticism and defend yourself! Better to learn that now before you officially throw your hat in any rings, huh?"

"You know Butters, I think your bright side is showing..."

"Wha? Oh no, did I spill something on my clothes again?"

"No, I mean you were able to find ways to make the best of my problems. Sounds like the Butters of old isn't dead yet..."

"Oh...well, that makes it sound a lot better..."

"The world could always use people with that kind of outlook. A lack of them is probably why people like you are so easily discarded. Someday, there'll be a way to prove that without being shrill and whiny and hateful towards opponents...even if I'm not the right person to think of one."

"Maybe not yet, you mean..."

"I really am sorry I touched your fake boob when you got implants."

"It's all right, Butters, that wasn't one of my finest moments. I think...I think that was around when it got started. Right around then when I really started to turn people off. First that, and before that I kissed Cartman, and then the breakup with Stan...things were probably never the same after that."

"Things were already far gone for me well before that..."

"I should have known things were really bad for you when you got forced to dress as a girl to invade our party."

"But we all had fun before I had to get that 'future telling device'...wow, I can't believe we really thought a piece of paper was that powerful. I only realized it after my parents unchained me from the basement a week later..."

"And by then I'd forgotten all about you and forgot you ever existed...back to just worrying about me and my own problems that weren't even close to that bad...I'm sorry, Butters."

"Out of all the things people said to me...I never heard that before..."

"I know...I know..."

"Well, I doubt people have said they're sorry to you much either, so I'm real sorry for that. There, now we're even, heh heh..."

"Ha ha ha...I don't think I've known someone who could make me laugh while I'm upset that easily. My leftist friends certainly wouldn't have that sense of humor."

"Well, luckly they're not here, then."

"Yeah...luckly it's just you and me, Butters. I...I really am lucky for that."

"For the first time in a while, I guess I can say that and mean it too..."

And on and on talks of this nature went for a good week and a half. Whether at the lunch room, after school, at Stark's Pond, at Wendy's house or Butters's house, or during phone calls, there they were by themselves. It got to be that for several days, the only people in school they talked to was each other.

That didn't mean those other ignored students weren't paying attention.

Now feeling free to ignore her rants, they were fully prepared to do that, and to go back to Butters pranks when he was alone. But throughout that time period, the two were seen together, and they couldn't pull anything off. Not only that, Wendy wasn't even bothering to rant at them. Since this was what they wanted, this should have made them thrilled- instead, they became quite suspicious and paranoid.

To them, the facts were adding up. They stopped their lying to her because they thought she would use Butters to paint them all as tyrants and bullies. Thus far she hadn't said a word about that since their feelings came out- but that didn't mean she wouldn't. And the fact she was spending so much time with Butters may have very well meant she was going ahead with her plans anyway, only more under the radar. At any moment, she could come up with a new speech to ruin the reputations of all of them, thinking it would catch them off guard. Instead of getting painful physical revenge on them for how they turned their backs on her, this would be an even more insidious form of revenge.

And one that could not be allowed to take flight.

Bebe was feeling more and more guilty about their treatment of Wendy- she knew more than anyone about her negative qualities, but she knew they shouldn't be the cause for that much resentment. Still, she stayed quiet and figured Wendy needed to calm down more before she could go near her and explain herself. However, by the time she had taken enough time to do that, Wendy was with Butters and Bebe wasn't able to get to her. So, in between times where she failed to get her attention, she was hearing unsettling talk from Craig and his bunch.

They were continuing to suspect that Wendy would get her revenge by trashing them for hurting Butters anyway. They were soon convinced that nothing they had done had made a difference on her- she was still the same old scheming, prejudiced bitch, only more quiet now. Whispers were going around the woodwork of another plan to get her to stop- one that wouldn't use just words this time.

By the time it got to such a level that Bebe saw reason enough to warn Wendy, Craig was already following Butters to the school bathroom.

Butters headed into the stall to tinkle so he wouldn't have to go during class. He didn't feel the need to hum a little song as he did so, like when he was young- though a part of him was tempted to. This above all was a sign of how the last several days had changed his attitude. For a time, he could flashback to the days when he wasn't afraid of being himself and just did things that were "lame" without fear of consequences. Those days had lots of brutality, yes, but he could always find refuse in his own cheerful soul eventually, unlike the last few years. But now, things had finally started to flashback to better times.

Maybe it was a sign of those good times, even at the worst possible moment, that Butters was able to flush the toilet just before Craig got him.

"Wendy! Wendy, you need to hear this!"

As Wendy turned to see Bebe, she grumbled that she had to be reminded of the bad old times now, when good memories were starting to come through again.

"Bebe, I've already come to terms that you pretended to be my best friend so I wouldn't go nuclear. I'm not gonna do that now, so you don't have to worry. Now you can go." But that wasn't in Bebe's plans.

"Wendy, you are my best friend! I never hated you as much as they did! Because I've known you for so long, that's how I know you aren't that bad!"

"Then why didn't you tell them that?"

"Because I thought you were capable of doing bad stuff if the truth got out, just like they said...I admit that. But now that I've been proven wrong, I can start apologizing and making up for it!"

"Bebe, how do you propose to do that, exactly?"

"Because I still care about you enough to warn you and Butters!" Bebe said quickly before she could interrupt and not listen. "They think you're still planning to bash them and make them look horrible to your liberal friends! They think you're out to get revenge on them, and that's why you're still hanging out with Butters!"

"They still think the only reason I could possibly be around Butters is that I'm using him?!"

Bebe backed up a bit, waiting for the worst in Wendy's anger and bitterness towards them. However, the backing up actually did more good for Wendy than Bebe, as this made her pause and remember where she was, and where this kind of public scene got her in the first place. Instead, she just took a breath and spoke calmly.

"I suppose it was too much to think that the extremist part of the school, just that one part, could think good thoughts about this."

"Um, well...wow...well, at the risk of ruining this happy moment...I figure that by now, you've ranted and complained about so many things for so long, no one's taking you seriously anymore. Even if you could talk them outta things in a more peaceful manner, you don't have any credibility left in their eyes to do it."

Bebe again cringed for the worst, already cursing herself for being that bold. But this time, Wendy didn't even wait for Bebe's reaction to start speaking rationally.

"I see what you mean...this'll be a lot harder than I thought then. I'll actually have to be creative in solving this."

Bebe's eyes were wide for some time, even when she started speaking again.

"Whoh...hanging out with Butters for a week and a half has done that to you."

"Actually...it has. I swore if I ever had a friend again, I would be sure to tell them exactly the kind of things no one bothers to know about him. The stuff that'd make them think twice about ruining his life."

"So...you are still studying him."

"No...this has nothing to do with politics or protests. Not anymore." Wendy paused for unknown reasons. "Hmm...he should be here by now...maybe when he does get here, you can stick around and actually hear what I mean."

"But we only have a few minutes before class starts anyway. Maybe at lunch?"

"Well...we'll see how it goes. You understand if it's a little harder for me to trust someone now."

"But you trust Butters?"

"Actually...I do...he's never thought any bad thoughts about me or anyone, so I trust him more than anyone. That's almost by default, but it's still true."

Before Wendy could go on, Bebe now looked around to see people entering their first class- but in the group with Clyde, Token, Cartman, and the other less than reputable people, one person was missing.

"Where's Craig? It's not unlike him to be late, but other times he's usually bragging and making jokes with the others by now."

"Wait...Craig's not there, right at the same time that Butters isn't here yet?!" Wendy ran before giving Bebe time to answer.

"You gonna stop this?!!" Craig yelled as Butters had his face put in the toilet water for the 5'th time.

"Stop what?" was the response Craig could barely make out.

"Stop being stupid enough to let Wendy talk to you!! She can't trash the shit out of us if she isn't talking to you and using your gullable ass! So you stop going near her, and she has no ammo against us!!"

"She isn't using me, I swear!"

"Which means she is, because you're too retarded to see the truth again! That damn ho isn't getting away with it this time, though! You stay away from her and stop helping her bash us!! We're not gonna be passive victims of her slander any longer!!"

After 6 more seconds of putting Butters's face right in the water, he grabbed him by the hair to let him breathe for a bit. "So, do we have a deal? Are you gonna save the school's reputation and stop her from giving us a bad name? Are you ever gonna talk to her again?!"

"But...but I like talking to her..."

"Dammit, you moron, this isn't about you! First, you don't deserve anyone to talk to, much less that bitch! Second, stop thinking of yourself for one minute and think about how she's gonna make this place look evil and backwards!! She's gonna ruin everyone's reputation for nothing but sick revenge! All because we told the truth about her for once!! You think we deserve to get our good names wrecked just for telling the truth about what an annoying shit she is?! Do ya?!!"

To ensure he wouldn't give the wrong answer, he put Butters face in the water for a good 10 seconds this time.

"Agh!! Oh jeez, it's in my nose now!"

"You can clear it out after you promise to never see her again, okay? Just say those words, and I'll go away."

Craig looked at Butters's completly wet head, waiting for the words he knew was coming...or did he?

"I...I can't...I don't wanna lose the only person I've had fun with for years..."

"Still being selfish and stupid then, huh? Maybe I didn't make myself all that clear."

With that, Craig put Butters flat on his stomach and made sure he didn't get upor look upas he started to pee in the toilet. Once he had shaken every drop and zipped himself up, instead of flushing, he took Butters head back up again.

"You're gonna have an early lunch even worse than those school lunches if you don't say the right thing."

"Oh God, Craig!! You, you can't make me get into that!"

"You don't tell me what I can and can't do, fag! Now I tell you, stay away from her or it's bath time! Say you'll do it!"

"But...but..."

"Fine, maybe a little bath is needed to clear your retard head!!"

"CRAIG!!"

But that plea just before Craig was to put Butters head in the pee didn't come from Butters. It came from the object of their entire conversation.

"Wendy? You're, you're not supposed to be in the boy's bathroom! You're invading my privacy, that's really un liberal of you!"

"Let him go and I'll respect it again."

"Fine, I'll revise my demands. He goes after you promise not to trash our reputation through him."

Wendy sighed. "Craig, I'm not gonna write any articles or trash you. I've given that up, so none of this is neccesary."

"Good, then you can prove it by not talking to this guy anymore. You wanna prove you're not using him, then go back to ignoring him and not getting his hopes up."

"Oh come on! You'll let him go if I say I won't talk to him anymore! You think the only possible way I would be talking to him is if I was still using him?"

"Of course, otherwise you wouldn't be risking his wuss germs. I know you far lefties are committed, but you don't gotta be committed that much, damn! Just get away from him, for your own good. Then we'll know you're not plotting against us and everything can go back to normal."

"So Craig, I assume that means you can use him for whatever you want, and I can't, even though I'm not."

"Don't you use that sarcasm on me, bitch!"

Suddenly, the sound of footsteps interrupted the would be screaming match- not from someone coming in, but from someone getting up. Getting up and exiting a bathroom stall, no less.

"Craig...don't call her names like that."

"Oh, what's it to you, Butters?! You're defending a-"

"I know what she is. That's why you can't insult her...not in front of me."

Craig paused, then laughed heartily- not the effect anyone else wanted to see.

"So this is the part where you grow balls and stand up for the enemy, eh?! Fine, fine...guess I'll speed along my response, then." He turned to Wendy after that, though. "But first..."

He grabbed Wendy's wrist and prepared to get her out of the room. Craig was too ready to put Butters in a coma to remember this is how the entire mess started, with his advances towards Wendy. As such, he hardly remembered how that turned out for him.

Which is why it was more of a surprise than it should have been when Butters kicked his crotch for the first time in a few weeks.

"I won't...let you hurt someone I care about..."

"Don't worry...I won't hurt...her..."

At the exact same moment Wendy was pushed out of the bathroom, the principal was unlucky enough to come back and lucky enough to narrow avoid her crashing into him.

"Ms Testaburger? What were you doing in there?" After seeing him, Wendy hoped she would be the lucky one now.

"Sir, you have to get in there now!" Without even waiting for his answer, she led him inside.

Craig had already gotten two shots to the head in, and had just begun his long awaited tactic to shove Butters head in pee. At that moment, he heard the door open and had no time to get away before the principal could take the sight in.

"Craig?! What the hell is going on that would make her drag me in here?!"

The very second Butters came into view after getting his head out of the john, Craig had his excuse all set.

"She's planning to trash us! She's using Butters to make it like we're all bad guys for ignoring him! She's gonna make the whole school look like jerks and bigots! I was trying to get them to stop, and they just wouldn't listen! He even kicked my balls again, I had to defend our reputation!"

Wendy also acted fast to try and balance out his damaging accusation. "Principal, he started it by giving Butters a swirlie and demanding he never see me again! Then Craig grabbed me and Butters kicked him to defend me and save me! But look, Craig punched him and make him drink pee! That's far worse!"

"Only after you started it by slandering us with this freak!"

Wendy took a few breaths, knowing this might result in the kind of shrill complaianing everyone hated about her. Whether this was a deliberate trick by Craig to make her do that, she didn't know and didn't wanna know. But the principal was there now, and she didn't think she needed to do much to convict Craig anyway.

"Craig...you say you did this because she wants to ruin our reputation?"

"Yes sir, the whole school knows she was gonna write an article a few weeks ago. One that made us look like bad guys just for ignoring and making fun of this Melvin!"

The principal took a few looks at the three participants of this brawl before making a decision.

"Very well. Craig, you're off with a warning. But next time tell me these things before getting violent. Now go away before I change my mind."

Wendy's memory to stay calm and not shrill ran through her mind again, but this time they were harder to remember as she took in what the principal was saying.

"He beat up and drenched Butters, and he only gets a warning?"

"Swirlie's aren't violent, they're part of the school culture. Besides, it was Butters who made the first blow by kicking his balls again. That makes him responsible for all that happened afterwards. I'll call his parents and tell them to pick him up...again."

"Mr Principal...Craig started it and I get in trouble because I kicked first? He was gonna hurt Wendy!" Butters pleaded.

"We'll never know now, will we? Besides, he thought he had a good reason."

Wendy blocked the door before the principal could think of taking his leave.

"It was a good reason...because he thought I was gonna say it's a bad thing he hurts Butters?"

"Let's not start this again, Ms Testaburger, it's all being taken care of."

"Craig gets off with a warning because he only hurt Butters, and Butters gets the riot act because of who he is?"

"Ms Testaburger, I don't need to hear this now, I have a lot to do..."

"I wanna know why you'd rather punish Butters than Craig first, sir!"

The principal sighed a pretty long sigh as a response.

"This is why...it's so hard to defend people like you. Always so shrill and lost in your own little fantasy world...no wonder they thought you'd ruin the school's reputation over him. You fail to realize that no matter how much you whine about the poor non whites, the poor poor, the poor Democrats, the poor terrorists, the poor everyone who isn't white and gay and American, it doesn't change anything. The unfair stuff is how the world works, and the clique system is the same way!"

"Ms Testaburger, have you ever considered it's his own fault for not being normal? If he's gone this long being picked on, and hasn't bothered to fight back and be a real person for this long, then he never will be! And we don't have to coddle people like that! They will always be with us and are a blight on people that are truly cool and have what it takes to represent our school with pride! Millions of people like him are picked on all the time, it's how it works, it's how it's always worked! Because that's how being cool goes!"

"And I for one, will not have my school painted as knuckle draggers because we do not cow tow to the whining and pissing of sissy, unmanly, girlie, too neat, uncool, stuttering nerds! That's p.c bullshit! We do that, and that makes us just as much of a lame, shrill, poofy little FAGGOT as he is!!!"

"Don't you call my friend any of those names..."

That was all Wendy could think to say right after she dropped the principal to the ground with one punch.


End file.
